Python Equivalent of an Array?

EDIT: WE ARE USING PYTHON 2.7.5

Dear Forum Users, I'm a university Student Studying Computer Games Design and I'm being taught Python in my first year.

Myself and several other members are in a group together and we have been tasked to create a Project, however, we are stuck at a point in the code and we are unable to progress any further, and the Python web-page forums aren't simple to understand for us beginners.

the purpose of this project is as following, we have to design a piece of software that will be run on a publicly shared computer, where people are able to request or provide a lift between campuses.

We have 2 types of people that will use this system, those that are offering a lift, and those that are requesting a lift.

The Lift givers/Providers, as we have called them, will use the machine to input data, such as the destination campus, the time, and how many seats they have available in their car.

the lift receivers, will enter the same information, however, this information will be used to check if there is anyone going to the same destination and at the same time, and check if their is space available in their car, and then assign them a space/ remove from the total of free spaces from the Giver.

THE ISSUE: me and my fellow group members, are unsure of how to take the information we have received from the Lift Providers, (destination, Time and Spare Seats) and store that into an array (or python equivalent) and store it until a later time. We would want to group each set of information separate from the last.

We are then unsure of how to take the information we receive from the Lift Receivers and compare that to the information stored in any arrays (or python equivalent) to check whether or not the destination and time are the same, and then if there are any free spaces.

Because we are new to python, we have a text based system, that will list a series of options to the user which will then determine if they are in need of/Offering a lift, The time they are Leaving and the number of seats Needed/Seats Available.

Conclusion: We are unsure how to store data entered by the Lift Givers with potentially multiple sets of data needing to be stored at once, Then we are unsure of how to take the information entered by the Lift Receivers and compare that to any stored information to determine if they can be allocated a seat in a vehicle.

I'm unsure if we should have a maximum limit of arrays (or python equivalent) But what I also want to happen, is that any that are made, are named after the person who is giving the lift, and once a lift receiver has entered their details into the program and had it checked for any free seats, if successful it should tell the receiver to meet ______(Lift Givers name here) at a fixed location (for example the University Car Park) at the arranged time.

I recommend sys.stdin.readline() followed by parsing, or just leave the value as a string. Perhaps show an example in the prompt.

Use a database. The program needs to retain information between separate runs. Even if you change the program to run continuously power/hardware failures can still stop it. Use pickle or shelve---or sqlite3.

Python doesn't limit list sizes.

If your program should email reminders to people you could assign a program to the batch queue that periodically reads the database and does it's work.

Thanks for the help, though I think you Mis-understood what I mean by 'Every Quarter of an hour' I meant in 15 minute intervals, 9.00, 9.15, 9.30, 9.45 etc

Also, How would I go about setting each list as a new one, because I will need availability for more than one list at a time, and then how would I check those lists to match destinations and times? I assume if Statements, though I think I'd have to run some sort of loop to get the program to check multiple lists? I think I get the basic principle behind how I want to do this, I just, know nothing about Python, and the docs.python.org aren't too straight forward. :/